this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. as protests continue into the 10th week we assess the impact on businesses in hong kong. ditch diesel and petrol — india pushes more people to drive electric cars. and on financial markets japan and several others are shut today for a public holiday so thin trading as investors remain cautious due to ongoing trade tensions.

it's the tenth week in a row for demonstrations in hong kong and increasingly businesses are having to choose between staff's right to protest and not upsetting beijing. over the weekend, hong kong's flagship carrier cathay pacific fired two airport employees and suspended a pilot for conduct linked to anti—government protests. its shares have fallen almost 4% percent this morning. hong kong's chief executive carrie lam says the unrest is causing more damage than the 2008 financial crisis. in fact, the economy — which has been hit by china's trade war with the us — saw growth come in at an anaemic 0.6% in the second quarter, compared to the same period last year. that's much less than the 1.6% previously forecast — and the weakest growth in a decade.

carrie lam warned thatjobs will be hit because of the disruption to business and has called on landlords to reduce rent to help companies. tourism is especially important — it accounts for 5% of the entire economy with the majority of visitors coming from mainland china. the hong kong tourist board says it saw a double—digit decline in overall visitor numbers in the last month and a significant drop in bookings for august and september. charles maynard, senior managing director, co—founder bda partnersjoins me now. it's a global investment advisory firm. clearly looking at the images we are seeing, the video what's happening in hong kong, it's getting extremely and worrying as we see police being witty brutal. it is having an impact on business in hong

kong. absolutely. in terms of the economy now, you mentioned i.6%. it is now 0.6% for the second quarters. the treasury secretary of hong kong mentioned the third quarter. you mentioned the third quarter. you mentioned tourism. tourism is down 30% in august. in a month to date. and yes, that is international travellers but also mainland chinese travellers but also mainland chinese travellers which make up a large pa rt travellers which make up a large part of tourism and also retail sales into the mainland into hong kong. they have very much declined. group bookings are also way down. this is having a knock—on effect

into the tourism industry, the retail industry and the government is starting to do things about it. they will be ruling out more in the near term. this is obviously going to be needing the worsening economic status which will lead to worse business down the track. this is something that carrie lam, the chief executive of hong kong, has been warning about. they say it is the worst crisis since 2008. the financial crisis. this is not what the protesters want but they will continue with our protest. they want to see this extradition law com pletely to see this extradition law completely off the agenda. they say it's to protest about democracy in the grip of mainland china on hong kong. it's hard to see how this will

go in the future. in the meantime, businesses want to try and keep things going as normal as possible. business is increasingly glum and concerned because they are hoping there will be a way out of this and at the moment, that is not clear. that doesn't mean it can't develop over time and that is causing increasing levels of concern. it will turn up perhaps quite quickly if it remains the same. other economies like singapore and parts of southeast asia, are they benefiting? overall, this is a 10- week period. it's a short period. it too short a period to say, oh well, great big businesses moving on a large scale out of hong kong and the margin, there might be the odd one

that has been impacted by these protests but overall, hong kong is the preeminent financial hub in asia, it's got a lot going for it. very skilled workforce, 15% income tax. all of those things supported and it's built up over decades. that's not going to change overnight. ten weeks is pretty quick. charles, thank you for coming and your expertise. as the protests continue in hong kong. luxury brand versace has apologised after an image on one of its t—shirts appeared to imply hong kong and macau were independent territories. let's go to our asia business hub where shara njit leyl is following the story. tell us a bit more about versace. that's right, sally, all of this happening and it appears to be

inflaming the tensions at a time when protesters in hong kong are already demanding universal suffrage. has been fierce criticism of the site —— versace on social media. the company has said it's made a mistake and has stopped selling the top, saying it respects the sovereignty of the territorial state. versace is the latest foreign firm facing a backlash or not it hearing. the t—shirt is causing controversy saying hong kong, hong kong and macau, macau, suggesting they are not special administrative regions but countries in their own right. china has been wanting to police this in the way people describe hong kong, a special status offering more autonomy than people on the mainland. in a post on weibo,

the italian fashion label has said it stop selling and has destroyed those t—shirts and the label's artistic director, donatella versa ce, artistic director, donatella versace, has issued an apology. very interesting, sharanjit there. the number of gamblers complaining about british betting firms has risen almost 5,000 percent in the past five years.there were a record 8,266 complaints last year, gambling commission figures obtained by bbc panorama show. that compares to just 169 in 2013. the rise follows a sharp increase in uk gambling over the past decade. many of you sent us your opinions on that gambling story.

india has set ambitious targets for the adoption of electric vehicles. and in the latest budget, the country's finance minister laid out a host of tax incentives for those choosing to buy battery—powered cars. but as zoe thomas reports, major challenges lie ahead. frame, interior, polish, repeat. this hyundai factory in southern india produces a petrol burning car every three seconds. in a plant next door, there is a far slower pace. the new addition to hyundai's electric cars is finished by hand. the company only needs to build a few each day. the indian government has ambitious plans for electric cars. they want them to make up a third

of vehicle sales by 2030, but today less than i% of indian customers choose to buy them. rafa halim and his wife fara are one of the few. nahindra five years ago and it changed the way they travel. we planned a 60—80 kilometre distance, and hope to charge at that point in time and start looking for charge points. we have even approached regular petrol pumps for electricity. the halims have a charged point at their home, but a lack of charging stations elsewhere is one of the biggest hurdles for india's electric dreams. the biggest fear in our mind was range anxiety — what happens if you run out of charge, it is going only 100 kilometres per charge. a normal petrol car

of a similar size would go 400—800 kilometres on a full tank. it also takes a long time to charge the cars. ride—hailing app 0la had to scale back its electric vehicle programme in 2018 after drivers complained about the charging times for the cars. that is an issue for indian customers too. cars like the kona remain out of reach for many indians and until prices come down and the government develops high—speed charging points, we may not see more electric vehicles rolling onto india's roads. the number of gamblers complaining about betting companies has increased almost fifty—fold

in the past five years. bronagh munro has this report. the betting business is booming and its punters who are paying the price. the amount they are losing to the gambling companies has almost doubled in the decade. last year, it was £145 doubled in the decade. last year, it was £14.5 billion. doubled in the decade. last year, it was £145 billion. the biggest rise has been in on line gambling. amanda was in her 50s when she started gambling ona was in her 50s when she started gambling on a site called jackpot joy- gambling on a site called jackpot joy. she doesn't want to be identified but she she lost £633,000 before being made bankrupt. labour it was terrific. what i've done to myself, really. every day that i'd worked for, everything that my children were, looked up to me. now i've blown their inheritance, as such. jackpot joy said it had frequent contact with amanda and encouraged her to use responsible

gambling tools but figures obtained by panorama suggest the industry has a lot of unhappy customers. they show there were eight thousand 266 complaints last year compared to just 169 in 2013. the gambling commission says it's a complicated picture. we are pushing the industry to know its customers and part of this is actually possibly a good time because it suggesting consumers are demanding more of gambling operators. major betting companies have already agreed to provide £60 million a year to help problem gamblers. bronagh munro, bbc news. and you can see panorama tonight on bbc1 at 8:30. so many of you have been in touch about the story and many of you are telling me on a hashtag that you feel this industry should be regulated more.

this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: in hong kong, clearing up is underway after the tenth weekend of pro—democracy marches. pro—democracy activists have accused the police of using undercover officers disguised as protestors to make arrests. there were violent scenes in several places. detectives in malaysia have set up a hotline for information about a missing teenager with special needs who vanished a week ago. nora quoirin was last seen at a jungle lodge where she was staying with her parents. stringent security measures are in place in indian—administered kashmir, as the mainly—muslim population prepare to celebrate the festival of eid al—adha. the security clampdown follows protests over delhi's decision to revoke the region's special status. now it is time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world.

we begin with the independent, who say rebel uk members of parliament are plotting to rewrite the house of commons rulebook in order to prevent prime minister boris johnson from forcing through a no—deal brexit. meanwhile, in the guardian, leader of the green party caroline lucas has asked ten female politicians from all parties tojoin her in forming an emergency cabinet in another bid to stop a no—deal brexit. the ft reports global investment banks are shedding tens of thousands of jobs. falling interest rates, weak trading volumes and the growth of automation are being blamed for creating an increasingly difficult climate within the financial sector. germany's deutsche welle says russia's media oversight agency has demanded google take action to stop the spread of information about illegal mass protests. thousands of its youtube channels livestreamed one of russia's biggest demos last weekend. and finally, the telegraph website repeats claims made byjamie 0liver in an interview to you magazine where he said one of the reasons